NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2008--Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) today reported its financial results for the 4th quarter and full-year 2007. Gross travel bookings for the 4th quarter, which refers to the total dollar value, inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by consumers, rose 62% year-over-year to $1.2 billion.

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2008--Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) today reported its financial results for the 4th quarter and full-year 2007. Gross travel bookings for the 4th quarter, which refers to the total dollar value, inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by consumers, rose 62% year-over-year to $1.2 billion.

Priceline.com had GAAP revenues in the 4th quarter of $334.9 million, a 28.8% increase over a year ago. Priceline.com´s GAAP gross profit for the 4th quarter was $160.2 million, a 60.9% increase from the prior year. Priceline.com had GAAP net income for the 4th quarter of $32.9 million or $0.68 per diluted share, which compares to $13.2 million or $0.33 per diluted share in the same period a year ago.

Priceline.com reported pro forma revenues in the 4th quarter of $334.9 million, a 28.8% increase over a year ago. Pro forma gross profit for the 4th quarter was $160.6 million, an increase of 60.7% over the same period in the prior year. Pro forma net income in the fourth quarter was $0.96 per diluted share, an increase of 65.5% over a year ago. First Call analyst consensus for the 4th quarter 2007 was $0.84 per diluted share. The section below entitled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" provides a definition and information about the use of pro forma financial measures in this press release and the attached financial and statistical supplement reconciles pro forma financial information with priceline.com´s financial results under GAAP.

For full-year 2007, priceline.com´s gross travel bookings were $4.8 billion, a 45.5% increase over 2006. Full-year 2007 GAAP revenues were $1.41 billion, a 25.5% increase over a year ago. Priceline.com´s GAAP gross profit for 2007 was $639.4 million, a 59.4% increase from the prior year. Priceline.com had GAAP net income for 2007 of $155.5 million or $3.42 per diluted share, which compares to $72.5 million or $1.68 per diluted share a year ago. Priceline.com reported pro forma revenues for the full-year 2007 of $1.39 billion, a 24.0% increase over a year ago. Pro forma gross profit for 2007 was $621.2 million, an increase of 54.9% over the prior year. Pro forma net income for 2007 was $4.04 per diluted share, a 99.0% increase over a year ago.

"Priceline´s gross bookings growth momentum continued in the fourth quarter with international growth accelerating to 113.0% year-over-year and the domestic growth rate increasing sequentially to 24.2% led by increasing retail airline ticket bookings," said Jeffery H. Boyd, priceline´s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Internationally, we believe that our wide geographic reach, new market initiatives and extensive inventory are providing sustained impetus for growth. We believe that in the United States, our value positioning and brand promotion through offline and online channels is driving above-category growth rates in an uncertain economic environment."

During 2007, priceline.com achieved several strategic milestones that included:

-- The elimination of booking fees on published-price domestic and international airfares. This means that, in most cases,priceline.com customers pay less for their tickets than they do at other major full-service online travel reservation services, including Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz.
-- The acquisition of Agoda.com, an Asian online hotel reservation service. Agoda offers hotel properties in Australia, China, Japan, India, Thailand, South Korea,Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand and several other countries. In addition, Agoda offers hotels in Europe,the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. Agoda´s services are offered in 12 languages. Agoda contributed $13.4 million to the fourth quarter international gross bookings metric for the two-month period following the acquisition.
-- The signing of participation agreements and extensions with several major airlines. In October, American Airlines – the world´s largest airline - signed an exclusive agreement to provide priceline.com with Name Your Own Price(R) fares. JetBlue also signed an agreement to provide priceline.com with full access to its published fares, schedules and inventories.
-- The addition of exclusive Zagat Survey reviews and information for hotels, restaurants and attractions in the United States and select international locations. The Zagat information, combined with traveler reviews provided by priceline.com customers, covers over 600 cities and thousands of hotels and restaurants.
-- Priceline.com added a group hotel booking service where customers can book 10 to 1,000 rooms at specially discounted prices. Priceline.com´s Name Your Own Price(R) hotel service, which previously allowed customers to book up to four hotel rooms, was also expanded to accommodate up to nine rooms at a time.

Looking forward, Mr. Boyd said, "We believe that Priceline is well-positioned as we enter 2008 to continue building out our global hotel business with new inventory and geographies and mining the synergies available when we build links among our regional businesses in the United States, Europe and Asia. While we are concerned with how continued economic distress could negatively affect our markets in both the U.S. and internationally, we believe our services are relatively more attractive to suppliers and consumers in times of economic difficulty and our recent results in 2008 support that thesis and the guidance we are providing for the year."

Forward Guidance

For full-year 2008, priceline said that it expects to generate approximately $7.0 to $7.3 billion in gross travel bookings. Priceline.com said that it expects pro forma EBITDA of $300 to $325 million and to earn approximately $4.80 to $5.10 of pro forma net income per diluted share for full-year 2008.

Priceline.com said it was targeting the following for 1st quarter 2008:

-- Year over year increases in gross travel bookings of approximately 60 - 65%.
-- Year over year increases in international gross travel bookings of approximately 85 - 90%.
-- Year over year increase in revenue of approximately 30%.
-- Year over year increase in pro forma gross profit of approximately 55 - 60%.
-- Pro forma net income of between $0.50 and $0.60 per diluted share.

About Priceline.com(R) Incorporated

Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) provides online travel services in 22 languages in over 60 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Priceline.com operates Booking.com, a leading international online hotel reservation service, priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers, and Agoda.com, an Asian online hotel reservation service.

Priceline.com believes that Booking.com is Europe´s largest and fastest growing hotel reservation service, with a network of affiliated Web sites. Booking.com operates in over 60 countries in 16 languages and offers its customers access to over 41,000 participating hotels worldwide.

In the U.S., priceline.com gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises than any other Internet travel service. In addition to getting great published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com´s TripFilter advanced search technology, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com´s famous Name Your Own Price(R) service, which can deliver the lowest prices available.

Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.